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DTSTART:19700927T020000
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CATEGORIES:SMS Seminars
CONTACT:Astrid an Huef / John Haywood
DESCRIPTION:Astrid's abstract:\n\nWhen students ask me about my research ar
 ea\, I often say it's "linear algebra (math 251) meets real analysis (math
  212) in infinite dimensions".  A monoid is a set with an associative bina
 ry operation and an identity (think the natural numbers). The associated a
 lgebra is generated by isometries acting on an infinite-dimensional space.
  I'll explain how this work and if time will talk about work with new mono
 ids inside the famous Thompson group $F$.\n\nJohn's abstract: \n\nIn this 
 presentation I will highlight the importance of statistical modelling in t
 hree interesting applications\, each done with researchers from the School
  of Biological Sciences here at VUW. \n\n1. Invasive insects pose dangerou
 s threats to natural ecosystems\, endangered native taxa and human food su
 pplies. In research that won the 2023 paper of the year award in the Inter
 national Union for the Study of Social Insects' journal\, we showed that\,
  across 227 reported arthropod eradication attempts\, the odds of successf
 ul eradication were almost 80% lower for social insects. Logistic regressi
 on modelling was the key statistical technique used. An editors' highlight
  article that accompanied our paper was titled\, "The curse of invasive so
 cial insects". \n\n2. Among social insects\, many people's favourite is th
 e honey bee. The Varroa mite is considered the greatest threat to apicultu
 re worldwide. RNA interference (RNAi)\, using double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) 
 as a gene silencing mechanism\, has recently emerged as a next-generation 
 strategy for mite control. In a 2024 paper\, highlighted with a cover phot
 o in Pest Management Science and currently downloaded over 12\,100 times\,
  we demonstrated that the majority of foundress mites exposed to either lo
 w or high doses of dsRNA failed to produce any offspring\, while neither d
 ose impacted pupal survival of the honey bees. Consequently\, mite treatme
 nts using dsRNA have significant potential as an effective alternative to 
 conventional methods for Varroa control\, with broader implications for th
 e utilization of RNAi as a next-generation tool in the management of pest 
 species. A permutation-based analysis of variance (ANOVA) was the key stat
 istical technique used.\n\n3. The staghorn fern (Platycerium bifurcatum) i
 s an epiphyte that lives in cooperative colonies whose members work togeth
 er to build a communal water and nutrient store. These staghorn fern colon
 ies are sometimes invaded by a related species\, Zealandia pustulata\, whi
 ch causes sharp declines in the density and reproductive output of P. bifu
 rcatum colonies. Using negative binomial hurdle models and beta regression
  as statistical tools\, we investigated how invasion of staghorn nests aff
 ects the epiphytic distribution\, growth and reproductive output of Z. pus
 tulata along an elevational gradient on Lord Howe Island. It seems the inv
 asion of P. bifurcatum nests alters the distribution of Z. pustulata\, and
  also increases the rates of reproductive frond production\, suggesting in
 creased fitness in invasive individuals. Hence these two species of epiphy
 tes interact in a novel way that is similar to 'social parasitism' in anim
 als.
DTEND;TZID=Pacific/Auckland:20261008T120000
DTSTAMP:20261002T092508Z
DTSTART;TZID=Pacific/Auckland:20261008T110000
LOCATION:Cotton Club\, Cotton 350
ORGANIZER:Astrid an Huef / John Haywood
SUMMARY:Astrid an Huef / John Haywood - Algebras of monoids / Statistical m
 odelling applications: the curse of invasive social insects\, RNA interfer
 ence for mite control\, and social parasitism among plants
UID:seminar_sms1042_20260923173539
URL:
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